Nikola Motor, a company developing several electric vehicles, including a battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell semi truck, announced that it is refunding all deposits for reservations on its trucks and it took a swipe at Tesla in the process.
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Nikola Motor, a Utah-based EV startup, best known for their hydrogen fuel cell electric truck, launched their all-electric UTV with up to 150 miles of range this week.
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I have been skeptical about the Nikola Zero, Nikola Motor’s all-electric UTV, ever since they announced some unbelievable specs. My main concern was that the Salt Lake City-based startup claimed that they were able to pack 125 kWh of energy capacity in a relatively small battery pack – beating any electric vehicle currently in production, including the Tesla Model S P100D.
Nikola Motor figured out that the best way to erase my doubts would be for me to actually try their new machine. They currently only have one working prototype and only a handful of people in the world, aside from the U.S. military, have experienced it so far.
In a bold move, CEO Trevor Milton decided to fly us to St-George, Utah last weekend to be the first outlet to try the machine. Here I share my experience…
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Nikola Motors hasn’t delivered a product yet, but it is now already launching its third division. The startup is better known for its electric and fuel cell truck, but it launched an energy division earlier this year.
Now it is also launching ‘Nikola Powersports’ after buying an electric watercraft startup.
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German electronics giant Bosch and electric truck startup Nikola Motor announced that they are collaborating to build the electric powertrains of the startup’s upcoming two electric trucks, the Nikola One and Two.
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While Nikola Motor is better known for its electric hydrogen semi truck and now its new energy division, they are also working on an all-electric UTV for off-roading called ‘Nikola Zero’.
Today, they released updated production specs, which would be impressive in a luxury electric car but they are simply unbelievable in a UTV.
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When electric vehicle start-up Nikola Motor came out of stealth mode last year using the first name of Nikola Tesla, the same namesake as Tesla Motors, it was generally seen as a copycat move.
But the startup is taking it to a new level by launching a new energy division, like Tesla.
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After months of teasing its electric truck, Nikola Motor finally unveiled the first Nikola One prototype before a crowd at its Salt Lake City headquarters last night. There wasn’t any surprise for the truck itself and most of the startup’s plans, but they did reveal a few new partners and explained in more details what they plan to do and when they plan to do it.
The Nikola One is an electric Class 8 truck powered by a 320 kWh battery pack and a stack of hydrogen fuel cells, which the company claims enables a range of 1,200 zero-emission miles. The vehicle was first supposed to be equipped with a natural gas range extender, but the company announced a few months ago that it will be using hydrogen fuel cells and possibly also natural gas in different markets.
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When Tesla announced its 100 kWh battery pack earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk highlighted the complexity in fitting so much energy capacity in the Model S and X. He described the energy density as putting 11 pounds in a 10-pound bag. In order to make it possible, CTO JB Straubel said that his engineering team had to reinvent the cooling architecture.
Now Nikola Motor, an electric vehicle startup best known for like Tesla using the name of the famed physicist and inventor, says it can beat Tesla at its own game and fit a 125 kWh battery pack in a Tesla Model S.
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You probably know Nikola Motor for its ‘Nikola One’ electric truck concept with a natural gas range extender that was later changed to a hydrogen range extender, but when first announcing its concept truck, the startup also announced an all-electric UTV: the Nikola Zero.
Today Nikola Motor unveiled a prototype of the vehicle and it is making some bold claims about its performance.
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You might remember Nikola Motor for unveiling renderings and estimated specs of the Nikola One, their first electric truck, earlier this year. Or maybe for when they claimed that they received over 7,000 pre-orders worth over $2.3 billion for the vehicle.
In our last report, we highlighted their weird claim that the vehicle will achieve “zero emissions” despite being powered by both a 320 kWh battery pack and a natural gas range extender, which undoubtedly produces emissions. Today, Nikola Motor explained how they can claim that: they dropped their entire powertrain technology for a new hydrogen fuel cell concept.
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In a weird and clearly reactionary move after Elon Musk announced that Tesla will venture in the semi-truck business, electric truck startup Nikola Motor, which like Tesla borrowed its company name from Nikola Tesla, announced that it will unveil a working prototype of its first truck, the Nikola One, on December 2nd in Salt Lake City.
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Last month, we reported on a new Salt Lake City-based startup, Nikola Motor, unveiling the design of its first product; an electric truck with a natural gas range extender called ‘Nikola One’. The company attracted a lot of attention for having a name reminiscent of Tesla Motors – both inspired by the physicist Nikola Tesla – but it also unveiled serious ambitions to revolutionize the trucking industry.
The ‘Nikola One’ will be equipped with a massive 320 kWh battery pack and the company hopes that it will be able to travel up to 1,200 miles with the natural gas range extender. Now the company announced that it received over 7,000 pre-orders with deposits for its electric truck since the unveiling of the concept last month. CEO Trevor Milton says that the pre-orders are worth over $2.3 billion.
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Don’t be put off by the Tesla Motors spinoff-sounding name (of course inspired by physicist Nikola Tesla) which attracted many headlines this week, Nikola Motor’s recently unveiled electric truck and UTV concepts are very real – well as real as a concept can be.
What many articles about the company missed is the fact that the range is achieved through a natural gas range extender, which is not clear only from the press release. The truck is called ‘Nikola One’ and it is equipped with a 320 kWh battery pack which enables up to 1,200 miles, but again only combined with the natural gas range extender.
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